China is seeking to have its Mid-Autumn Festival, or Moon Cake Festival, to be included on the World Heritage List, according to a Beijing newspaper.

The Beijing News reported Thursday that the international campaign co-sponsored by China News Service, the website chinaqw.com and Hunan FLY Foundation of Commonweal has attracted more than 700,000 netizens offering their support.

According to the newspaper, China's Ministry of Culture is leading the campaign for listing the traditional festival as a cultural World Heritage in China.

As one of the three major traditional Chinese festivals, Mid-Autumn celebrations symbolize reunification and harmony, among other eastern spiritual philosophies.

The Editor-in-Chief of China News Service (chinanews.com), Tao Guangxiong, said that Mid-Autumn celebrations reflect Chinese cultural traditions. With more than 30 million Chinese living and working overseas, the Mid-Autumn Festival serves as a reminder of their Chinese origins. Listing this festival on World Heritage would certainly unite overseas Chinese as they bid to promote Chinese culture.

In order to better promote the cultural campaign, the selection of symbolic ambassadors and the selection of a bidding logo for the event will be held during the coming Mid-Autumn Festival.

It is reported that the relevant cultural authority would organize a seminar of experts for the event.

A research fellow from the National Museum of China, Song Zhaolin, said the Ministry of Culture will officially submit the Mid-Autumn Festival as a World Heritage candidate.

Song said that since UNESCO conducts such a selection of intangible heritage once every two years and each country can recommend only one item, the Mid-Autumn Festival's bid for World Heritage is expected to be a long-term project.

(CRI.com September 10, 2005)